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Well Dave Nugent went a bit mad at the end of the season to make sure we went up as champions. Some impressive wins and like I said earlier although promotion was all that really mattered being Champions is great. We scored bucket loads but also conceded far too many not sure this type of all out attack will work in the Championship but it will be fun to find out.

Best 11

Nugent was easily the best signing and stepped up big time to replace Dicko during his injuries, despite not playing loads of game Dicko still scored loads. Lee Campbell the 6 foot 8 beast of a striker ended up playing on the left wing a lot over the season and breaking into double figures was pretty good for someone still so young. Elliot Whitehouse also got into double figures for the season from CM scoring some important goals. Suso Santana was not quite as good as last season but still put in some pleasing performances. Despite all the goals we let in the defence was pretty good ratings wise.

I have turned down two job offers so far this summer, the Swansea one was tempting but their wage budget is too low for the amount they are currently paying players. Sporting just don't have the finances to persuade me to move from Crewe.

We also claimed victory in the JPT obviously the biggest English domestic cup competition. We were lucky with the draw getting a few home games and reasonably easy opposition. Dave Nugent stepped up in the final to seal an easy win with a nice hat trick.

Nowhere near as much movement as last season in the transfer window. First up was Fiston Maguire on loan from West Ham he is a decent DMC but will be playing at DC for us still only 17 years old he has very good attributes and will be starting a lot of games. Thomas Picci was a free transfer and is a current Italian U-21 international, I expect him to play quite a few matches he has good mental attributes and is rated at 5 stars for potential I can see us making a decent profit from him in a couple of seasons. Paul Connolly another loanee from Leeds is a good solid player that can play at RB but is a natural LB. Leandro was another free transfer and will probably be our starting GK, I am finding it hard to find a good GK for a side like mine. Lee Cattermole I tried to sign a month before his contract expired but he wanted £22,000 a week once his contract ran out he was willing to sign for £6,500 a week a bit of a difference. Lastly Thiago Rockenbach is a decent enough half Brazilian half German player that can play MC, AMC, ML and AML also another free player.

We are currently £800,000 in debt and over the wage budget by £9,000 a week mainly due to all the promotion raises in peoples contracts. I am hoping we can push into the top half of the Championship and maybe the play-off's if Dicko and Nugent can play as well as last season then we will score plenty of goals again, I am looking forward to seeing if all out attack will see us battered or if we can outscore people to push as high as possible in the league.

Friendlies have gone pretty well not losing any scoring plenty and boosting the morale of the team whilst getting the lads fit for the new season.

Can't believe the start we have had Dicko and Nugent rotating between AMR and ST have been on fire. We are letting in more than one goal a game which you can see but we are scoring a whole load more. Our only loss in the league was an annoying one we went 2-0 down at home but turned it around to get to 2-2 only to concede a third goal a few minutes after our equaliser. If everyone stay fit then we have a good chance of making a real impact this season unfortunately Picci got off to a great start at MC averaging 7.67 for 5 matches but is now injured for 3-4 months. The key men will obviously be the front two Nugent and Dicko both stay fit we will keep scoring.

The match against Scunthorpe was the first round of the league cup where we won convincingly but we were thrashed 3-1 away at Premier League side Blackburn in the next round to end our cup run early.

So far we are still keeping pace at the top leading by a single point but holding a game in hand. At the moment it is a case of opening up a gap between us and the teams just below the play-off's then in a few months I can see where we are and know if we can challenge properly. Three home games and one away against a good Burnley side I thought three wins would be good and was hoping for a draw at Burnley but we went 3-0 down in the first half, we pulled on back after 68 minutes then they had a man sent off in the 72nd and we scored in the 74th but just couldn't get that third goal we needed. Dave Nugent is injured for 5-6 weeks which is a big blow but Lee Campbell has stepped up a bit and all it means is Dicko will be upfront with Suso Santana and Campbell on the wings.

Thanks to two losses we have only got a two point lead from Wigan as they defeated us to close the gap. The QPR game as important because it was our game in hand and we could not capitalise. We are not scoring as many goals as normal and knowing the way morale works on this game two defeats on the spin can be followed by another few if the team don't win soon, next up is another away match this time against Derby, really need to get a win because three defeats in a row is poor.

We have dropped to 2nd now one point behind leaders Wigan. It seems to be easier to score goals away from home at the moment, I mean home losses against Reading, Huddersfield and Cardiff is not the form of potential champions. Not sure what the hell happened in the Huddersfield game as I had it down as a reasonably easy win. 5-2 at Leicester, 4-0 at Oldham and 5-3 at Blackpool however shows we can play well away from home. Dicko continues to score but keeps picking up little injuries here and there with Nugent only scoring one hattrick since the last update. I think the league will be a four way shoot out between the top four clubs at the moment, should be an interesting season and we can get promoted as long as we start to beat teams like Reading and Huddersfield at home.

If you think its close now you will love the next update. Ever get ahead of yourself and start thinking of targets to sign for epl football even though you are not there yet? The dream is very much alive and I have never had three promotions in a row on any fm.

So with one game to go the top is very close three points between the top four. Our form has been decent-ish but if we have done slightly better than we would already be promoted. Chelsea knocked us out of the FA Cup and around that time we didn't win for five matches the loss against fellow promotion chasers Cardiff was a disappointment because it was such an important game. Dicko has been on fire as you can see and has scored for the last seven matches in a row. So here it is the last day of the season sees the following matches.

Reading Vs Crewe
Wigan Vs Burnley
Cardiff Vs Brighton
Derby Vs QPR

There are lots of combinations of ifs and buts although the main thing to know is that if we win we are up simple as that. Reading beat us at our own ground so can we get revenge or is it another season in the Championship? Either way what a season.

All the results went our way Wigan made sure they won by completely demolishing Burnley 9-0, the other two clubs couldn't capitalise on our 3-3 draw meaning we all ended on the same points and our goals took us through. Lee Campbell really stepped up and he will become a youth product that has played for us at all four levels of English football and he is still only 18 years old. Not sure what will happen with budgets but for us to stay up we will need some serious investment at the moment we are spending £68,000 a week on wages obviously we will need four or five times that to comfortably avoid relegation, it will be a big summer for us as I try to strengthen the team all over the pitch. Will post up a season review tomorrow, with best 11 and stuff, now off to find some EPL quality players willing to sign for us.

The board have announced a ground expansion not sure how helpful this will be.

Initial budgets are pretty good but I will have to convert some of the transfer money into wages because £125,000 is not enough to survive in the EPL. The question is do I take a risk and use some monthly payments to try and keep the club in the EPL comfortably or do I be extremely careful in who I sign and how much for?

Not sure I could leave Crewe even for Real Madrid, I am going to have to have at least a season or two in the EPL after these successive promotions.

Went to the board and told them I deserved a new contract for what I have achieved and they agreed. I signed a three year contract on £24,000 a week compared to my previous contract of £1,500 a week, well deserved I think.

So, you're staying then? While I always like to see managers have a go at a higher level, in your case I wouldn't have blamed you for leaving. Good budget to help build a survival-capable side.

If I didn't get promoted I would have left, my aim as people know is to win the Champions League on each continent I would love to win the second one with Crewe but that could take a few seasons yet. The budget is very good for rebuilding the squad.

Originally Posted by DodgeeD

Epic final day!! And the top four all tied on the same points Did Fulham sneak up via the play-offs?

Best of luck in the Premier League. It will be tough with that wage budget but I'm sure you'll manage

Thanks, Fulham did get promoted via the play-off's. I moved a few things round and got £260,000 wage budget that should be a good enough wage budget to keep us up or at least I hope it is.

The best 11 from last season as you can see Nugent was good but not as prolific as last season, Dicko was awesome again and despite playing most of the season at AML instead of upfront Lee Campbell had a great season. I have high hopes for Picchi next season, he is attracting interest and when he played a full game he was great but seems slightly injury prone. Apart from the attacking three no one else really stood out as having a brilliant season.

Transfers

Most of the players that went out were released because I don't think they are good enough to play in the EPL but a couple Chatto and Bachirou had match highest earner clauses. I tried to negotiate them into a new contract but they wanted too much or wanted to keep the highest earner clause I decided to simply let their contracts expire and put the wage they would have earned to better use.

He wasn't brilliant for us last season but he has a load of potential 5 stars of it according to my coaches. Plays DMC as well as he plays DC, will hopefully develop into a great defensive player for the club.

Not the greatest CB you will ever see but he is now our joint highest signing at £5 million. I have been looking for decent CB's and he is one of the only ones that was willing to join us that had decent attributes in most needed to be a solid CB.

Despite how good Dicko, Nugent and Campbell were last season I have my doubts about their abilities to score a the top level so I equalled the biggest transfer fee in the clubs history to bring in Rodriguez who I hope can grab plenty of goals for us or at least enough to keep us up.

Had my eye on him for awhile and despite failing to get him a month before the window shut I managed to bring him in on a free transfer a few days before his contract was up. He has decent attributes and can play on either wing so should come in handy over the season.

Again not brilliant but a good ability to play at either fullback position is a big bonus for us.

Overall I am pretty happy with all the transfers the clubs weekly wage bill now stands at £260,000, we are also £14 million in debt. I am hoping the small crowds we get along with the TV money will make us not lose too much money every month and if we stay up the prize money will cover our debts, I hope.

Not too bad of a start league position wise, leaking goals like crazy but also scoring a fair few at times. Started with a pasting off Man City but bounced back with two 4-1 wins in a row, then another beating from Arsenal was followed by a thrashing of West Brom. However the last two matches we have been well beaten in. Not sure how the season is going to pan out now looks like we will get destroyed by the big sides but beat the smaller teams at our our own ground, I guess it depends which team shows up most often the team that destroyed West Brom or the team that limped out against the bigger sides. Dicko scored a hat trick on his EPL debut and has 8 goals so far not bad for a player with pretty poor attributes.

Not too bad managing to stay away from relegation but as you can see we just went through a really bad patch with four draws and a loss, I suppose one point is better than none though. Jay Rodriguez has been playing well and Liverpool recently enquired about him I told them £15 million to scare them off and have yet to have a reply back. Managed to get our first win in five against the team I support in real life and I hope this can lead us onto better things. I am hoping for a midtable finish to build on for next season.

Decided to bring in a couple of player Ben Arfa has been available since his contract at Dallas expired so I signed him up on £10,000 a week but his contract will expire at the end of the season so it's a risk worth taking and hopefully it will pay off.

£2.7 million from Everton also on a pretty low wage, looks like a good CB but I doubt he will make much difference to our inept defending.

Had one concrete offer from Flamengo but their wage bill seems very big for a Brazilian club but I think they may have a big TV deal. Not tempting enough to make me leave Crewe in the middle of the clubs first ever EPL season.

Being linked to a load of jobs in late December, already rejected Swansea and West Brom would not be much of a step up at all from my side. Villarreal was slightly tempting but I don't think they have the base to become a really big side. Well the last one is horrible, I would never manage them on FM ever. I don't think there is any job that would persuade me to leave Crewe at the moment. I want to journey around the world and win every continental trophy there is but I can see me sticking with Crewe for awhile as long as a new stadium is built in the next couple of seasons because the 12,609 all seater Gresty Road stadium is nowhere near big enough to build this side into Champions League contenders.

The league is very tight and I am not sure we will end up this high in the league, I switched to a 4-4-2 with two DMC's to try and steady the defence a bit it has sort of worked and we have only lost one of the last eight matches. We were leading at Chelsea until quite near the end. Most impressive has to be the win at Anfield along with the home win over Arsenal, no one is really standing out but the team is playing well as a whole. Two strikers is better because it allows me to team up Rodriguez with 6 foot 8 academy striker Lee Campbell.

Thought some of you might like this AI own goal, it is the funniest I have ever seen.

Wow, switching to a 4-4-2 and employing DMC's really helped the club move forward. Important wins over Birmingham and Liverpool on the last day to seal a fantastic 3rd place finish, half down to how well we played and half down to how poorly the rest of the league played. So-called big clubs Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea never really put together a big run of results to break into the top four. This has resulted in us and Birmingham playing Champions League football of course Birmingham will have to get past the qualifying round, luckily for them the Champions League final is between Man City and Arsenal and not the other bigger clubs.

I took charge with Chile sitting in the play-off place after winning a fair few of the qualifiers we were able to get to the 2018 World Cup with ease pulling away from the teams in and around the play-off area. Losses to Ecuador and Argentina were disappointing because they did not reflect how we played but the defeat to Brazil well we more than deserved that one. I also survived the Confederations Cup we drew Spain, Mexico and Ivory Coast, the annoying thing was if we had beat Mexico by one goal instead of two then Spain would have gone out. We were outplayed by a very good Russian side and then lost for the second time against Spain.

2018 World Cup

Group A

Uruguay
Holland
Russia
Algeria

Group B

Iran
Brazil
Poland
USA

Group C

Japan
Honduras
Argentina
Serbia

Group D

EgyptChile
Germany
Scotland

Group E

England
Ukraine
Saudi Arabia
Morocco

Group F

Mexico
Czech Republic
France
Colombia

Group G

Nigeria
Ireland
Australia
Spain

Group H

Belgium
Italy
Senegal
South Korea

Not a bad group for us but not easy either. Germany will be hard especially with me forgetting to do something and leaving them with all grey players, Scotland can be good on their day and Egypt have a few decent players. Saying that I would be very disappointed if we didn't get to the knock out rounds of the World Cup.

Annoying being stuck in a 14,000 capacity stadium. We were making a profit of £1.5 million a month last season without Champions League football, so financially I should be able to offer a few better contracts out.

Well the World Cup was a complete waste of time, we got splatted 3-0 by fake Germany then lost 4-2 against a Scotland side who had 2 clear cut chances compared to our 5, Alexis Sanchez got injured against Germany within the first few minutes keeping him out of the other games. So after two defeats we were knocked out and I resigned, I hate international management I always seem to under perform when I venture into it.

As you can see Rodriguez and Campbell struck up a good partnership with Campbell getting most of the goals, earlier in the season he had kept Campbell out of the first team because I only played one up front but switched mid-season and it worked a treat. N'Zogbia started well but never kept it up and he got upset at me rejecting a bid in January so I decided to move him out for £1.5 million and got Ben Arfa instead another player who was inconsistent, Ben Arfa also wanted me to double his wages from 10k a week to 20k to stay so I let him go. Picchi was brilliant at DMC and just as good earlier in the season at MC. There were a few under performers and despite how well we did the best 11 proves we need a few more quality players in.

Domestic Cups

We started the FA Cup well with a 4-1 home victory over Swansea but it was disappointment in the 4th round as we got beat 3-2 at home against Wolves. The League Cup was a little bit longer a 2nd round 4-1 win over Plymouth was followed with an impressive performance in a 2-0 win at home against Aston Villa, however we couldn't beat their rivals Birmingham who dispatched of us 2-1 at their ground. Overall a disappointing run in both cups and something I would love to improve on next season.

Signed from AC Milan for £4.2 million he is extremely quick and I originally signed him to play up front but I am strongly considering retraining him to play as a AMR where he can use his pace to get into the box and hopefully destroy the AI defenders.

The biggest signing in the history of the club at £7.5 million, I had been after him for a while after giving him his first cap for Chile. A year a go the club wanted £18 million for him but after unsettling him he started to reject new contract offers from them, I bid but negotiations collapsed due to his agents demands for himself, I then received a news item saying due to the collapse of talks with Crewe Nunez had fired his agent. I bid and got him for £7.5 million. He is a good player and can play at CB but is more of a DMC, I look forward to seeing him play alongside Picchi in the DMC slots next season.

He has been unable to establish himself at Spurs and they wanted £5 million for him but I went in with a loan offer and they accepted. Can play both fullback positions, he is a bit slow but hopefully he will be better than Naughton who didn't have his contract renewed due to stupid wage demands.

After deciding to convert Casolla to an AMR I felt I needed another option up front so I signed Montero. His age is against him but he only cost £2.9 million and is on a small wage, he has everything I wanted reasonably quick with decent finishing he will become a back up to Campbell and Rodriguez and competition with Dicko when ever the main two are out injured or need resting.

An expensive signing for us at £5.75 million he looks a decent player and will add some depth and competition to the centre of defence. Quick slow but he has a bit of room for improvement so some decent training with individual focus on quickness should knock that up a couple of points during the season.

Should become a great CB he is only rated at 2 stars for current ability and 4 and a half for potential. Needs a bit of work but with games and training I have a good feeling he can become a great player and he was free as well.

Overall I am happy with the players that have come in this season and I do think we are stronger although a couple more signings would be nice. I did manage to re-loan Mancienne he is available on a free in the summer of next season but he will be 31 by then so I am not sure if we will make a move for him or not. I still have £11 million left along with £140,000 spare wages but there is no need to spend them just for the sake of it.

Obviously bringing players in also means moving a few out. All were released because they had stupid wage demands or because they never reached their potentials. Cattermole had matches highest earner clause and would not drop it so I let his contract expire, as I mentioned before Ben Arfa wanted us to double his current wage which was a big no from me. I felt sorry for Nugent who was a big help getting us to the EPL but was just not good enough to play in the first team. Naughton wanted a rise to 20k a week which I didn't think he was worth so I let him go. Another I felt sorry for was Elliott Whitehouse who played a huge part in our rise through the leagues but just couldn't get into the first team in the EPL.

Successfully managing to keep the wages at a decent level but obviously they will naturally rise as our success does. I have hired a load of scouts to go out and try to find some decent younger players I can bring in and give a few games to. I have £11 million left so I am saving that to see if the scouts can find any players with decent potential that are under 21 and can play a role now. I will also be looking at all the international U-21 teams of the big nations as there are usually a few decent free players in there.

Successfully managing to keep the wages at a decent level but obviously they will naturally rise as our success does. I have hired a load of scouts to go out and try to find some decent younger players I can bring in and give a few games to. I have £11 million left so I am saving that to see if the scouts can find any players with decent potential that are under 21 and can play a role now. I will also be looking at all the international U-21 teams of the big nations as there are usually a few decent free players in there.

This is exactly what I do.

If you have ever read my threads, I always, without fail, recruit as many scouts as possible, all with the highest possible Judging Player Ability & Potential and then send them to all parts of the globe.

I normally use my own judgement but in also looking too my scouts to give me more info,

As a big club if a 16-18 year old has good attributes I would bid for them and take a risk, can't afford to do that here.

Originally Posted by Nobby_McDonald

Excellent Premier League debut.

Thanks Nobby, just hope we can follow it up with another similar season.

Originally Posted by cerud

Scouts can definitely help in finding young talent in the corners of the globe you've never thought of before. Always nice to find the gem of a 20 year old that can lace up and play a role.

Picchi is a great player that was released as a youngster and is now a top DMC that can only get better. Those are the sort of signings I love players that no one wants that can be turned into class players.

The group I would have had most confidence in qualifying from was Real Madrid, Celtic, Zenit and Standard who we would have replaced. Obviously Real Madrid would have been losses but Celtic and Zenit I think we would have had a good chance of beating.

Fantastic second half to the season there - that's usually when the bubble bursts for most promoted sides but you managed to reach the Champions League! Tough group but I think you will at least get the Europa League spot.

Much like DazRTaylor, I also keep my scouts busy on my club saves. Once the board allow it, I also send them off to youth tournaments (U20 World Cup is a favourite as are the South American U20, EuroU21 and Euro U19 finals) - there are often many star performers near the end of their contracts to be found there.

Over double capacity is great for a new stadium! Definitely give you something to grow into.

I just hope I can be in the Champions League when the new stadium arrives.

Originally Posted by DodgeeD

Fantastic second half to the season there - that's usually when the bubble bursts for most promoted sides but you managed to reach the Champions League! Tough group but I think you will at least get the Europa League spot.

Much like DazRTaylor, I also keep my scouts busy on my club saves. Once the board allow it, I also send them off to youth tournaments (U20 World Cup is a favourite as are the South American U20, EuroU21 and Euro U19 finals) - there are often many star performers near the end of their contracts to be found there.

Thanks, I have a couple of scouts constantly searching South America for players under 20 with 4 star potential. 2nd half of the season was brilliant and so far this season it looks like we will need another great run to get anywhere near Europe.

Not really sure what the hell is going on, there were several injuries to key players during these first games but that's no excuse for this. 6-3 loss against a team who had 7 shots all game was extremely annoying and losing 3 of the last 4 is not the sort of form I need at the moment. I know Wigan are not strong but it makes no sense to lose 3 games and have a 7-1 win sandwiched between these poor results. I think we are going to have to go on a decent run asap or a late surge to make it into the European places, we did it last season although maybe I am panicking a bit too much.

Champions League Is A Welcome Distraction

Strange how European competition is usually an unwanted distraction yet we are doing really well. We beat Inter and somehow got a draw against Bayern despite them having 25 shots a win away against Metalist has put us in a strong position to qualify for the knock out round.